After noting the fuses on the metal balls, Gu Li thought to himself, “aren’t these bombs, like the ones used in wars in the Modern Realm?”
Who knew just how Ye ZIchen had learned to manufacture explosives? Right now, though, Gu Li was more concerned with how to guarantee his own safety in such a narrow space.
Without experiencing it for himself, he had no way of knowing just how dangerous these bombs were.
Gu Li didn’t stop to think about it. Instead, he poured all of his spiritual energy into raising his defense.
Bombs?
The word was completely new to Black Dragon. He didn’t feel even the slightest hint of a threat from those metal orbs.
They were made of ordinary materials and weren’t particularly impressive looking.
Seeing Gu Li’s terrified expression, Black Dragon was overwhelmed by curiosity.
What the hell was a bomb?
Then, following a sudden boom, Black Dragon temporarily lost the ability to think.
“Everyone, put your spiritual energy into defense!” The instant the first explosion appeared, Black Dragon shouted to the surrounding soldiers.
The demons weren’t idiots. After sensing the waves of power from the first explosion, they immediately focused their energy on raising their defense.
However, it was already too late to activate their defenses.
The bombs exploded in rapid succession. From their hiding spots atop the two cliffs, the White Tiger and Phoenix clansmen flung a constant stream of bombs, each pre-lit and on the verge of explosion.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The deafening explosions seemed endless. This was Black Dragon’s first time encountering such a thing, and all this was from those metal orbs that initially seemed completely unthreatening to him.
This moment would leave an unerasable scar in his heart.
“Explode for me!” Ye Zichen stood atop the cliffs, roaring command after command. The fire phoenixes and white tigers held nothing back; they flung bombs into the gorge with all their might.
Boom!
Facing the exploding bombs, the thirty-meter-wide path suddenly felt far too narrow for the demons. They poured all their strength into defense, but facing such a dense wave of explosions, their protective barriers shattered, one after another.
Blood and gore went flying amidst the blaze, scattering in all four directions.
Agonized shrieks echoed throughout the canyon as countless demons perished in the explosions.
Black Dragon could only watch helplessly as his clansmen perished, eyes so bloodshot they seemed liable to burst.
The bombs’ explosions were nothing to him, so weak, he could ignore them completely. However, his human-immortal level clansmen were doomed to perish here, as well as everyone in the early sky immortal stage.
“Ye Zichen.”
Gunpowder smoke filled the air, flames lit the skies.
Black Dragon peered up through the smoke, gnashing his teeth and glowering furiously at Ye Zichen.
Suddenly, a stern, forceful voice called out from above. “Black Dragon, what are you just standing there for? Hurry up and save them!”
The instant he heard this familiar voice, Black Dragon turned to look. Li Min’e had appeared in the canyon, pushing Su Yiyun in a wheelchair. Su Yiyun, meanwhile, was busily placing spiritual formations.
After a brief, stunned pause, Black Dragon couldn’t help but ask, “Bro-, Brother Su, why are you here?”
“You’re asking me? If I hadn’t come, the demon race would have fallen in your hands.” White-hared Su Yiyun tightly knit his brows together as wave after wave of spiritual energy shot out of his hands.
“Don’t just stand there!” Su Yiyun shouted once more, “I can’t hold on much longer. These are your clansmen, do you want to just watch them die?”
After a brief pause, Black Dragon came to his senses and pushed against the ground, encasing the entire gorge in a dense protective barrier.
The falling bombs exploded when they hit the barrier, but it stayed firmly in place in the sky.
“Phew.” Seeing this, Su Yiyun finally sighed in relief. Then, hands shaking, he wiped his sweaty forehead with a handkerchief.
When he saw the bombs were no longer having an effect, Ye Zichen signaled for the white tigers and phoenixes to stop. “That’s enough. You can stop for now.”
If Black Dragon was determined to protect his clansmen, they couldn’t break his defense, no matter how much gunpowder they had.
His gaze fell on the distant figures below. Su Yiyun’s appearance put an end to the demons’ losses. Now that Black Dragon was supporting his efforts with a protective barrier, the bombs were no longer reducing their numbers.
Even so, in that brief burst of explosions, the demons’ military might had already sharply decreased.
More than forty percent of them had died in the blasts. Most of the deceased were of the human immortal level, although there were also quite a few low-level sky immortals.
As for the remaining sixty percent, most suffered minor injuries and quite a few were seriously wounded.
Only those above the middle sky immortal level survived completely unharmed, but experts at that level were few and far between.
It was fair to say that the ambush had reduced the demons’ overall military might by over seventy percent.
This ambush could still be considered a success. It’s just, if Su Yiyun hadn’t come, it might have gone even better.
“Third Bro.”
He stared down the cliffside at Su Yiyun, who was constantly wiping sweat from his brow. Judging by his current state, he shouldn’t have much time left.
Ye Zichen truly struggled to understand. Why was his former dear friend working with the demons, giving his all to help them oppose him?
They say a friend’s love is thinner than paper.
Could that really be true?
Scenes from his college days inexplicably surfaced in Ye Zichen’s mind. Back then, the few of them would sit around their dorm in their underwear, drinking beer and boasting.
Those days were never coming back. The day they left….
Their friendship ended.
Ye Zichen let out a melancholy sigh, then turned away.
“Let’s go,” he said flatly.
The white tigers and fire phoenixes were having a great time blowing things up. This was their first time seeing the mysterious treasure known as “gunpowder.” It was new and exciting to them, especially the range and might of its explosion. They were currently watching the demons scurry about in terror and cry out in agony.
It was rather satisfying.
Although they’d yet to toss the bombs they currently held, they stopped when they heard Ye Zichen’s command.
At first, they thought they were just going to wait until Black Dragon lowered the protective barrier. They never would have guessed he wanted them to retreat.
“Emperor Ye, we’re leaving just like that? Not even an immortal king-level expert could maintain a protective barrier of such range for long.”
One of the White Tiger clansmen tried to persuade Ye Zichen to stay, but he simply looked back at the man and smiled. “The bombs were effective precisely because they weren’t prepared for them. Now that they’ve experienced their might, they’ll be on the lookout for them. Furthermore, the explosions are comparatively effective against human immortals. We’ve already blown most of them up. Throwing more bombs won’t have much of an effect and if we delay, we might very well run into danger.”
“Understood.” The White Tiger clansmen nodded, then barked a command to the soldiers on both sides of the canyon. “Retreat!”
The group left the canyon reluctantly. Ye Zichen, too, gazed at Su Yiyun once more, then shook his head, sighed, and left with the others.
